Alpha Borough Councilman Michael Savary said Monday he has no plans to resign prior to his sentencing for disorderly tampering with public records.

Savary pleaded guilty to the charge Thursday in New Jersey Superior Court in Belvidere. He will need to give up his council seat and cannot seek public office again as conditions of the plea deal, Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke previously said. Savary is eligible to vote until sentencing, but council could ask him to resign in the interim, Burke said.

Savary said Monday he plans to stay on council and participate in meetings until sentencing. Council President Carol Schwar said she hasn’t made any decision about his status on council although she would heed the prosecutor’s advice.

“If the prosecutor says he can keep his seat and he wants to keep his seat, then I would say let him keep his seat,” Schwar said.

Councilman Mike Schwar said he will not ask Savary to resign as long as the prosecutor doesn’t feel he needs to do so.

Voters elected Savary, a Democrat, to a three-year term that ends in 2015. The deadline has passed to make changes to the November election ballot, which includes five candidates for two, three-year terms.

Once Savary steps down, borough attorney Christopher Troxell said, the head of the Alpha Democratic Committee will submit the names of three candidates for the seat to the mayor. The mayor will nominate one of the candidates for council approval.

The seat will be filled in the 2014 general election, Troxell said. The identity of the Alpha Democratic Committee chairman or chairwoman was not immediately available.

Savary maintains he was trying to show the work could be done right for less. He said he was trying to help the town and make a donation, but the situation got twisted.

“There was never an intention of cutting a check and getting paid,” Savary said.

Savary said if he didn’t take the deal, the prosecutor could have charged him with official misconduct, which carries a prison term of up to five years. He said he takes his position as a councilman seriously, but he cares more about his family.

Savary is in the midst of getting quotes for a few borough projects in his capacity as director of public property. Councilman Louis Cartabona is deputy director of public property so Savary’s responsibilities will fall on him while the seat is vacant.

Cartabona said he doesn’t see the need to ask Savary to resign before sentencing because the legal process came to a conclusion in a timely manner. He said he wants a smooth transfer of the council seat.

“I don’t see a need for council to ask him to resign because any official business he needs to conclude needs to be done,” Cartabona said. “Any work on his desk still needs to be wrapped up.”